Elaine and Ken married 57 years. Award winning! Two children, 4 grandchildren.

Periodic visitors to Key West. Usually stay at Marquesa.

Ken shared an interesting experience. He was a senior at Northwestern Medical School. Senior students were sent to the homes of the poor to provide services. One was baby deliveries.

Deliveries performed right at the home. Stirrups required. Two coke bottles for each foot covered with a shower curtain. To insure a germ free environment , newspapers were laid under and over the mother to be.

Elaine and Ken leave today. Hope to run into them the next time they visit Key West.

Devin came in. I did not recognize him at first. We met several months ago in the Chart Room. I wrote about him at the time.

Devin is 40ish. From Illinois. He and his brother own and operate a large farm. They know what they are doing. Get their product grown and sold. They work with the major food corporations. Did not fight them as the food cycle changed.

Devin has a Key West condo. He is back for several months. I am sure we will run into each other again.

Tom and Fran Dixon arrived last night. we get together sunday. They left their home in cold and snowy Buffalo for the heat of Key West. In for a surprise. A cold front coming in. Monday, tuesday and wednesday. Monday evening a low of 57. Cold!!!

The Key West Citizen reported this morning of a bull shark problem in the Key West Bight. Three have frequently been seen. Divers and boaters concerned. Scared. Especially divers who clean boat bottoms.

The female was some how hooked and netted. Dragged 6 miles out and released. It is assumed the two males will leave the area. They apparently were enjoying the comforts of the female. They will leave seeking female companionship elsewhere.

Robots/artificial intelligence. Not discussed enough. A danger already arrived and anticipated to spread big time over the next five years.

I have spoken and written about robots taking over human jobs for a year. Few seemed concerned. I was beginning to think I was a voice in the wilderness. I was extremely disappointed the issue was not discussed during the Presidential campaign.

Recently, a word here and there in the media. Finally.

I shall speak to the issue the next several days. A few words.

A recent study by economists at major universities concerning middle class jobs interesting. Bottom line: Where robots take routine middle class jobs, those workers drop out of the work force. They leave the job market entirely or are pushed into low paying employment.

The study links unemployment with automation.

An interesting study observation: Robots don’t just co-occur with unemployment, they cause it.

As I have previously commented, robots and artificial intelligence already quietly replacing human jobs. Some auto assembly lines no longer use humans. Work done by huge robots. McDonald’s testing automated kiosks to take orders. Anticipated that in 18 months, the McDonald drive in window will have a robot handing you your order and change.

Foxconn is the major manufacturer of the Apple I Phone. One million two hundred thousand employees. One million of which work at factories in China. Already let go 60,000 employees at one plant. Replaced by robots. Working towards all plants going robot by 2020.

One comment on “DRINKING LIBERALLY”

I like to talk to folks like Devin to see what they have to say or do with GMOs or Glyphosate..

An observation that robots cause unemployment or under-employment is interesting ? Its an obvious observation I find disturbing that has been ongoing for quite some time. I don’t blame business for the change.